Authors: Cyndi Friberg
Vee heaved a sigh and tilted his head slightly, his bright green eyes intent upon her face. “Are ye terribly unhappy here?”
“I wasn’t—until…” She didn’t bother to finish the thought. Why detail what they both understood? “I don’t think I can do this, Vee. My feelings for Tal are what link me to this world. I had finally accepted that I didn’t leave anything important back on Earth.
Victor and Stephen will always live in my heart. I was ready to build a life with Tal. But without him…” She couldn’t find the words. Without Tal, nothing else mattered.
He loved her, just not enough.
“I want to tell ye a story.”
Charlotte laughed and flopped back on the couch.
Draping her forearm over her eyes, she said, “If it uses the phrase ‘greater good’, I don’t want to hear it.”
“I will do my best to avoid the phrase.” He paused.
“Attentive listening allows the speaker to ascertain the effectiveness of his tale.”
She chuckled and moved her arm away from her eyes. “Attentive enough or do I need to sit up?”
“Reclining is acceptable so long as your expressions indicate you are listening.” He lifted her feet into his lap and lightly patted her knee.
Solemnly nodding her head, she wiggled until the couch adjusted to her new position. “I shall attempt to be expressive.” She batted her eyelashes at him.
“Kindly retain thy questions until the end of the story. This is a difficult tale to tell.” The rough edge to his tone caught Charlotte’s attention. She sat up and bent her legs, wrapping her arms around her knees. “Go on.”
“E’Lanna dar Aune may have been the most powerful Mystic Ontariese has ever known. She was gifted with many powers as well as the one she passed on to thee. As ye have already learned, it is possible for a catalyst to intensify the strength of their other abilities. This made E’Lanna’s potential almost limitless.”
“But I was told most catalysts don’t have other abilities. I don’t,” Charlotte muttered. “Well, I’m mildly telepathic and I can erect a shield. But this isn’t anything you haven’t already told me.”
He smiled and stretched his arm out along the back of the sofa. “Why are the young always so impatient?”
“Because the ancient never come right to the point.” She softened her playful sarcasm with a smile.
“Thy mother was very much in love with someone else when the sacred traditions demanded that she accept Frim dar Joon as her life mate.”
Okay, this was new information. “Then why did she accept Frim?”
“Because the traditions demanded it.”
His expression was completely neutral. She couldn’t tell how he felt, what he was thinking.
“Was there no way for E’Lanna to appeal the match? No way to fight tradition?”
“She wanted to appeal the match but her lover would not allow it. The Royal Houses had been at odds for years. The joining of E’Lanna and Frim was meant to stave off the building aggressions.”
“But it didn’t work. She married him and it didn’t matter. The war happened. The Great Houses divided and the sects were formed,” Charlotte said softly.
He averted his gaze for a moment then met her gaze directly. Sorrow burned in the depths of his emerald eyes and Charlotte understood. This was no simple tale. This was the history of E’Lanna dar Aune and her lover—Vee.
“E’Lanna became my apprentice when no other Mystic could manage her skills. Numerous Standards forbade our love. Though she was promised to another, it was the cry of my heart to be with her. No trace of royal blood can be found in my veins and still we—”
“You’re not of royal blood?” Vee was treated with respect and something akin to awe. It had never occurred to her that he was anything less than royalty.
“My abilities have exalted me far beyond the station of my birth.” He paused for a moment, fiddling with his sleeve.
“You would meet her at Rainbow Falls.” She remembered what Tal had told her about the beautiful glen. “That’s why it’s too painful for you to go there now.”
He nodded stiffly, his expression distant.
“It was there she Summoned the Storm for thee and thy sister. She gave you your Earth names and entrusted your lives to the guardians.”
“What is my sister’s Earth name?”
“Krystabel,” Vee said then his gaze narrowed on her face. “E’Lanna implanted a memory that day.
Have ye never envisioned thy mother’s face?”
“I’ve dreamt of a woman I always believed was my mother, but I was never able to see her face.”
“Show me.”
Charlotte formed the image within her mind.
“Can ye use the catalyst to enhance the image?”
“I’m not sure. Let me try.” She focused on the woman’s face, peeling back layers of shadow until her features were clear. Upswept in a twisting mass of tiny braids, her hair mixed shades of brown, gold and red. Like Vee’s, her eyes were one solid shade with no movement. But unlike Vee’s, hers held the rich purple of amethysts.
“She was beautiful.” She felt Vee’s reluctance as he withdrew from the image. Her heart ached with a similar emptiness. “Why did her eyes not swirl?”
“It is the final level of control for a shape-shifter.
Tal Aune has yet to master the ability but he will.”
“If you loved her so much, why didn’t you fight for her? You chose tradition over love.” The familiar phrase nearly choked her.
“I chose
honor
over love.” He took her hands between his. “If they had not bonded, it would have meant war. Had I been so selfish as to make a life with E’Lanna while our world was torn asunder, I would have been unworthy of her love.”
“I don’t accept that,” Charlotte said simply, pulling her hands from between his. “If I’m to be High Queen of Ontariese, then it will be a place where people don’t have to choose between honor and love.” Vee smiled, his emerald eyes twinkling. “This is the very reason I am here.”
* * * * *
“What am I going to do?”
Trey laughed and Tal turned to face him. “That
must
be a rhetorical question. It’s inconceivable that you are asking my advice.”
“I cannot lose her. But I see no way out for us.”
“No easy way for sure. Do you love her?”
“With every fiber of my being.”
“Then fight for her.” Trey paused for emphasis.
“Find a way.”
“I wish it were that simple. She is High Queen.
Ontariese needs her as much as I do.”
Trey shrugged one broad shoulder. “Your piety is surpassed only by your arrogance. Mystics make everything so complicated. If she were mine, little brother, there’s no power in the universe that would keep us apart.”
Tal nodded, knowing his brother was right.
Regardless of the challenges set before them, Charlotte was worth fighting for. “I will find a way.”
“That’s the spirit.”
“She is angry and confused. I must—” A ripple of awareness disrupted his train of thought. “She is
here
.
Vee just brought her through a vortex.”
“That’s my cue to leave. Don’t screw this up. Or you’ll answer to me.”
Trey had been gone only a moment when the buzzer sounded announcing Tal’s visitor. He steadied himself with a deep breath and raised the privacy panel.
“What can I do for you?” She was still shielding her emotions from him. Even her expressions were carefully guarded.
“May I come in?”
He stepped aside. His first instinct was to pull her into his arms and kiss her senseless but passionate kisses couldn’t resolve the fundamental differences looming between them. She had mentioned a middle ground. They must find it now or all was lost.
“Where have you been?” he asked, keeping his tone even and quiet.
“With Dro Tar and Vee. We’ve been working on that logical solution to our little problem.” He instinctively reached for her before he realized what he was doing and clasped his hands behind his back. “A sacred tradition forbidding our union is a
‘little problem’? What do you consider a crisis?”
“Finding out you don’t love me,” she said softly.
“That would be a crisis. There would be no logical way for me to make your feelings change. But laws, Clarifications, even sacred traditions,” she paused for a playful smile, “these must bow to the mighty force of logic. They simply have no choice.”
He smiled, fascinated by her buoyant mood. “If the problem is so simple,” he began, “then you have found a way for us to be together, truly bonded as life mates?”
“Is that what you want?”
“You know what I want.”
Her head tilted, her turquoise gaze catching the light of the firestones. “Do I?” She reached out and caressed the edge of his robe where it lay against his chest, touching yet not touching him. “I know you love me—to some degree, but I’m not sure it’s enough. I’m the High Queen of Ontariese, Tal Aune.
I’m the High Queen of
all
Ontariese. My allegiance
must
not be to either of the sects but to Ontariese herself.”
“You set yourself above the Clarifications?” His heart pounded within his chest. “You need not abide by the laws?”
“No. I must abide by the laws of both sects and set a higher standard for myself than any other.” His brows drew together at her words. “And how do you propose to do that?”
“One sect at a time,” she said with an enigmatic smile.
Frustration surged through him. Her evasive optimism was just as infuriating as her candid attack had been. “Why did you come here?”
“To let you know everything is going to be all right.”
“How? What logical solution have you found for our little problem?”
She started to speak then shook her head. “I’m not going to tell you. I’ll only have to explain it all again for the TSC tomorrow. You will be there, won’t you?”
“Of course I will be there.” He didn’t want her to leave. He wanted to sweep her into his arms and never let go. “What about tonight?”
“Tonight we must concentrate on tomorrow.”
* * * * *
“Are you sure this is necessary?” Charlotte asked, gazing at her reflection in the section of wall she had just transformed.
“If ye hope to negotiate—”
“The dress, Vee. I meant the dress. It seems a bit much to me.”
He laughed and his reflection joined hers. His nondescript robe made her outfit appear all the more ostentatious. Her hair had been upswept and styled into a complex combination of tiny braids and smooth waves. She adjusted the shimmering fabric across her shoulders and down her sides. The color changed from purple to green to gold with her movements. A decorative golden cord crisscrossed the bodice and a slightly gathered train attached at the waist but remained separate from the full skirt.
“This seems more appropriate for a ball than a TSC
meeting.”
“This will be no ordinary meeting. Ye are the High Queen of Ontariese and it is imperative that they perceive thee as such.”
“I know you’re right. I just feel like I’m on my way to a masquerade party.”
“This is no masquerade,” Vee said. She met his gaze in the mirror. “Ye are High Queen.”
With an Ontarian command, she returned the wall to its natural iridescent state and turned around. “So when do we start searching for Krystabel?” Vee chuckled. “As ye directed, the Symposium and I are compiling a history of ‘when and how’ the search for thy sister has been conducted. But is it not wisest to fight one battle at a time? I believe ye are stalling.”
She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders.
“Is the Symposium ready in case the TSC references a Clarification I’m not familiar with?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
She shot him an impatient glance. He knew the formal address annoyed her but just wouldn’t quit.
Vee chuckled. “Shall we go?”
Charlotte glanced away. Much to her chagrin, she had one last stop to make. “I need to…um, powder my nose.”
It took a moment for comprehension to dawn in his emerald green eyes then he offered her a rare smile.
“Ye should find
powder
in the stateroom where ye changed thy garments.”
She impulsively kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll be right back. Don’t start without me.” Leaving Vee in the vestibule, she hurried down the corridor and ducked into the luxurious suite designed for visiting dignitaries. Well, they might wish she were only visiting but Charlotte Layton was here to stay.
After using the facilities, she stepped out into the sitting area and found Vee awaiting her. “Last stop. I promise,” she said, surprised that he had followed her from the vestibule.
“Do you feel better?”
Panic formed a hard knot in her stomach but she managed to raise her shields. “Much,” she said, forcing herself to smile. The tone had been perfect, but Dez dar Joon had said
you
and not
ye
.
What should she do?
Try to trap him here?
Summon Tal?
Where was the real Vee? Standing in the vestibule.
Impatiently waiting for her to powder her nose.
Dez’s eyes slowly deepened, changing from green to turquoise before they started to spin. “Ye,” he muttered. “I forgot to say ye.”
She took a deep breath, meaning to scream, physically and telepathically, but a containment field rose from the floor. Like a dense tube of Mystic energy, it not only surrounded her, it enveloped her, robbing her of movement, preventing any sound.
“Oh no, you don’t,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m not ready for an audience yet.”
He paused, swaying unsteadily and panting for breath. Why would a few simple maneuvers tax his strength? They certainly hadn’t fazed him at Fortress Joon. Was it possible he had yet to replace the captives? She focused on the unexpected spark of hope.
Someone tapped on the door.
“Charlotte?”
Dro Tar!
Dez moved so the door would conceal him if Dro Tar entered.
“Charlotte,” she called, pushing open the door.
“Anybody home?” She spotted Charlotte trapped within the containment field. Her swirling hazel eyes widened and she turned to sound the alarm.
Dez grabbed her, dragged her into the suite and kicked the door shut in one continual motion.
“I’ve never been so glad to see a female in my life,” he muttered. Before she could spout the sarcastic insult so clearly written in her expression, he sealed his mouth over hers.